Sox Start Spring Training under a Microscope

First, the good news: The Red Sox have officially begun Spring Training, 2013.

Which means that, even if you’re looking out at mounds of crusty, discolored snow in Worcester or Woonsocket, something summerlike far, far to the south of you is stirring nevertheless. Like a forerunner of spring’s first crocus shoot, baseball is slowly dusting itself off and preparing for the warmth that will, in time, reach even the frozen tundra that is still Tyngsboro and Tunbridge right about now.

The bad news? When baseball gets here, you might be just as unhappy with it as you were the past two years. At least when it comes to the Sox.

By now, the depressing narrative of the Red Sox complete fall from grace over the past two years is woven into the region’s consciousness like other New England calamities, such as Hurricane Carol or the Blizzard of ’78.

The final ninth-inning indignity in Baltimore, chicken and beer, Tito’s departure, Valentine’s debut/debacle, the worst season since 1965…

…Shall I go on?

(If you’re a real fan of the game—or just a glutton for punishment—you can always read Terry Francona’s candid re-cap of his Boston years in his new book. You may want some aspirin or antacid handy, though.)

To be fair, even during the latter stages of the ’12 train wreck season, the Red Sox front office did purge themselves of some unproductive (some would say unhelpful) players, like Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford. In doing so, the team also unburdened itself of a whopping $261 million in salary.

All of which they used to go out and improve the team with...people you’ve likely never heard much of. Your new starting shortstop, Sox fans, is Stephen Drew.

Last year, with Oakland, Drew batted a meager .250, with five homeruns and sixteen RBI’s. Those numbers are not likely to make Sox fans forget Nomar Garciaparra. Or even Julio Lugo.

You get the picture. Same penny-pinching profiles at first base, right field, catcher, etc. If ever there was an off-season in which a front office had an added incentive to make a few splashy moves (Josh Hamilton, Jake Peavy, Zack Greinke) to reassure fans that they were committed to winning again, the winter of 2012-2013 was it in Boston.

But the Sox went all small-ball. Maybe they were stung by past big signings like the aforementioned Gonzalez and Crawford. Maybe they really mean it when they say the new guys have been chosen as much for the positive influence in the clubhouse as their talent on the field. And maybe this wildly disparate cast of cast-offs and career .260 hitters will actually gel, thrive, and win under the new management of John Farrell.

Maybe.

After all, “hope springs eternal,” and all that Hallmark piffle.

And really, how much worse can it get than last place (2013)? Clearly, not much.

For their part, the ever-media-conscious Sox have taken a rather candid approach to winning back their sad and sullen fans. One ad proclaims, “What’s broken can be fixed.”

Maybe.

Helluva rallying cry, huh?

Why not just go with, “We know we suck. We’ll try not to suck as bad this year.”

The snow will eventually melt, the weather will warm, and Fenway will look fetching again in the June sun. This much we know.

For now, for Sox fans, that will have to do when it comes to certainty.

A day after Trevor Noah was declared the new host of "The Daily Show," complete with the blessing of the exiting Jon Stewart, graphic tweets targeting women, Jews and victims of the Ebola virus are causing a social media backlash.